Welcome to the CrossFit Health Book Club. Each month, we will announce the title of a book based on a health topic we will cover through articles, social-media posts, IG lives, and webinars. The book for December 2022 is “Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More.” We would love for you to read along with us and provide feedback and questions for our webinar in the comments below.
Publisher’s Description
This is the book that will forever change the way we understand and treat mental health.
If you or someone you love is affected by mental illness, it might change your life.
We are in the midst of a global mental health crisis, and mental illnesses are on the rise. But what causes mental illness? And why are mental health problems so hard to treat? Drawing on decades of research, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Chris Palmer outlines a revolutionary new understanding that for the first time unites our existing knowledge about mental illness within a single framework: Mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain.
Brain Energy explains this new understanding of mental illness in detail, from symptoms and risk factors to what is happening in brain cells. Palmer also sheds light on the new treatment pathways this theory opens up—which apply to all mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, alcoholism, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, autism, and even schizophrenia. Brain Energy pairs cutting-edge science with practical advice and strategies to help people reclaim their mental health.
This groundbreaking book reveals:
- Why classifying mental disorders as “separate” conditions is misleading.
- The clear connections between mental illness and disorders linked to metabolism, including diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, pain disorders, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy.
- The link between metabolism and every factor known to play a role in mental health, including genetics, inflammation, hormones, neurotransmitters, sleep, stress, and trauma.
- The evidence that current mental health treatments, including both medications and therapies, likely work by affecting metabolism.
- New treatments available today that readers can use to promote long-term healing.
Palmer puts together the pieces of the mental illness puzzle to provide answers and offer hope. Brain Energy will transform the field of mental health, and the lives of countless people around the world.
About the Author
Christopher M. Palmer, M.D., is a Harvard psychiatrist and researcher. He is the director of the Postgraduate and Continuing Education Department at McLean Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Palmer has spent over 15 years performing neuroscience research on mental health disorders — such as substance abuse and sleep disorders — while continuing to work with people who have treatment-resistant disorders such as mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders. More recently, Dr. Palmer has turned his focus to metabolism and its effects on mental disorders.
Dr. Palmer has been successful in using a clinical ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, which has led him to research, publish papers, and speak about the potential benefits of a ketogenic intervention on mental disorders. Dr. Palmer has developed the first comprehensive theory on the cause of mental illness — the brain energy theory of mental illness — which is explained thoroughly in his new book.
Webinar Announcement
CrossFit Health will be hosting a live webinar with Dr. Palmer Dec. 8, 2022, at 11 a.m. PT. Register here.
Post thoughts to comments.
CrossFit Health Book Club and Webinar for December